Press "j" to skip navigation
  • As seen on

Marketing strategies for the recession

November 13th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business, Lead Generation, Traffic Generation | 1 Comment »

During a recession, there is generally a reduction in discretionary spending by businesses, as well as of course consumers.

And one of the first things to often be reduced is, you’ve guessed it, a marketing budget. Hmm, big, big mistake!

Now I know you’re possibly all thinking “Well he would say that, wouldn’t he?” but let me explain why I feel it is a huge mistake.

First of all, pretty much every business will be thinking the same way, so by continuing to market your business relatively aggressively you could pick up additional business from your marketing budget cutting competitors.

Secondly, the single biggest challenge in a recession is getting people to spend money and if you’re not advertising special deals, services, packages – whatever it is you’re doing, you’re not going to bring in the level of sales that you need.

I’m not talking about throwing silly money at advertising (in fact, this is something I would NEVER advise, let alone in a recession) but strategic, targeted and focused campaigns with a specific goal in mind.

A recession can sometimes help a business

Strange statement some of you may think eh? Well, let me tell you that in the leaner times, a business often has to adapt much more stringent and focused tactics and strategies – and these can often set a good tone for future business.

To succeed in a recession, every part of your marketing campaign should be accountable so that you know how to react in a down market, to get maximum returns for all the money you invest in marketing. Equally though, this should be your strategy when the good times return too. You need to test, tweak and improve everything, and know where your sales are coming from (ie: which form of advertising).

Know your unique selling proposition

Next, you have to take a look at your unique selling proposition, as this is what helps grab the attention of prospective customers. It helps differentiate you from your competitors. So if you find that your USP does not clearly tell prospects how they will benefit from using your product or services, you may end up an irrelevant commodity.

It is important that your USP be prominent, easily found and is updated in your TV, direct, mail, website and all other marketing media. In fact, before you start your new marketing campaign, you should place your USP at the forefront of your marketing campaign – this is absolutely critical to success and something that many of your competitors will NOT be doing.

Ok, so that’s it for this post. I’ll be back in a few days with some more strategies and as ever, if you have any questions then please do contact me.

Quality or quantity in email marketing

November 6th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business, Lead Generation, List Building, Traffic Generation | No Comments »

As I have alluded to in previous posts, email marketing is a great tool for effective internet marketing. By sending out emails to prospective customers, whom you have pre-qualified and educated about your products or services, there is a decent chance that a good percentage will consider buying or using your product or services.

So obviously, the idea would be to have a list of prospective customers to send your emails to, right?

It’s an old adage in the internet marketing world that “the money is in the list”. This is most certainly true to a degree, but a word of warning in that a large list is not necessarily best.

That may shock a few people. Surely a large list is better than a small list? Well yes, but it all boils down to the quality of that list. It can be quite easy to build a large list but what I opt for is a list of educated, highly targeted prospects, not a list comprising of dozens of ‘tire kickers’ who are not really interested in your business, or your emails for that matter.

I have learned this over the years, and so I can now pass my knowledge on to you.

What the professionals do

The art is in ensuring that people that opt in to your email list have a valid reason for doing so. Sure, you’re always going to get some time wasters and ‘tire kickers’ as they’re called, but it is very possible to minimize that.

Having a quality, valuable call to action that your prospect is genuinely interested in is a great way to get them to opt in to your list. Once you’ve got them, you need to give them more quality, valuable content – not too much, but just enough.

You don’t want to bombard them with emails, but educate them on your products and services and let them get to know you better. This develops trust, credibility and rapport.

Ok, well I think that should keep you motivated until my next post, so see you all soon.

How to write a killer press release

October 26th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business, Lead Generation, List Building | No Comments »

Here are some additional tips that will help you in creating a great offline press release. With the help of these tips, you will hopefully have calls ringing in response to your press release or visitors coming into your business wondering what it is all about!

1.    First and foremost, you have to ensure that your press release is a catchy and newsworthy one. This can be best done with a tie-in, so this means that the press release should be written in such a way that it triggers the reader’s curiosity through headings that attract human interest, has novelty in it, is inspirational or has something extremely newsworthy.

2.    The second rule is to ensure that it is short and sweet. If the press release does not fit onto an A4 page, then it is too long for a press release.

3.    This is because of the third rule of an effective press release, which is that the press release is meant to be a prologue to an actual story. You should never be telling the whole story through the press release, as it should have sufficient content to make readers call on you for the continuation of the ‘story’.

4.    The best way to do this is by using ‘teaser’ types of questions and statement in your copy. These should be constructed in such a way that the reader’s curiosity drives them to want to know the answer to the questions.

5.    Also, when having a press release done for you, it’s a good idea to ensure that you use some sound bytes or good one liners. This makes the press release more interesting and memorable to the reader, as well as keeping it short and snappy. And this all contributes to having an interested and intriguing piece of writing that readers will want to read, and importantly, want to know more about.

Tips for effective press release copywriting

October 22nd, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business, Lead Generation, List Building | No Comments »

The success of a press release lies in its construction and its words, as the intention is to get it as many views as possible. As I have experience in writing several press releases I thought today that I’d give you a few tips for the effective copywriting of press releases.

If you are writing offline press releases, make sure you write them in such a way that they don’t tell its readers absolutely everything. One of the purposes of a press release is to tease its reader, and have them curious to find out more.

This is why you should write a short press release that has lots of white space, plenty of paragraphs so it just isn’t big blocks of text, and perhaps most important of all, it should have a great headline that pulls the attention of readers.

Offline and online press releases are different

Creating the right story for the press release is the key to distribution of the press release, as well as its readership. If the press release doesn’t look worthy for the front page of a newspaper, then don’t expect too much of a response from it.

Bear it in mind that offline and online press releases are different entities. While the objective of an offline press release is generally to get media coverage, in case of an online press release, its objective lies in search engine optimization. So never expect much media coverage from an online press release, as they tend to be written to promote a business in the search engines.

I must add this point however, that there are now specific companies out there that I use that CAN promote the press release in order to get additional media coverage. But as a general rule, it is used solely to promote a site.

While writing online press releases, your focus should be on the keyword phrase you want to optimize on. This is the keyword that should be present in the web page that is linked to the online press release.

Give them a reason to click

To ensure readers click on the keyword to your website, you have to give them a reason to do so. This means you should offer a free bonus, a free service, a free e-book or even the completion of the story you had started in the press release, to the reader.

Remember that while offline press releases can often directly lead to sales, online press releases may not necessarily have the same instantaneous effect. They will primarily drive visitors to your website, and so it is the job of your website to convert that visitor into a sale. If you want to learn how to create a killer press release, just wait for my next post!

Copywriting tips for autoresponders

October 15th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business, Lead Generation, List Building, Useful Software or Tools | No Comments »

I discussed in my last post about using autoresponders to provide interested prospects with information about your products and services.

I have always felt that an autoresponder is an often under-utilised piece of software, as they can be used to educate your prospects, pre-qualify them into using your products or services, provide answers to frequently asked questions, provide information to quicken a sales transaction and for building client loyalty by providing quick response.

However, copywriting for an autoresponder series can prove to be difficult for most people, and so I have some advice today for this very subject.

One of the biggest initial challenges is to get your prospect to open your email, and the most effective way of doing this is by using a compelling subject line. Once you have achieved this, you must continue with some useful, compelling content in your email which will coax your prospect into clicking from the email to a site, or to take some course of action.

For either reason, you have to be able to first make your prospect read at least a part of your email instead of sending it to the recycle bin, like other promotional and spam emails. In addition to this, you have to effectively write your email so that it goes past the spam filters and ISPs which just go on dumping emails.

Quality or quantity lists in email marketing

October 8th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business, List Building, Traffic Generation, Viral Marketing | No Comments »

When you think of email marketing, most people are of the impression that the larger is their email list of subscribers, the more successful they are going to be with their email marketing. However this is not necessarily the case, as it is always better to have a list of qualified, quality subscribers and not a large quantity of subscribers who are not really interested in you or your product.

Quite often the email addresses that are entered into forms on web pages and squeeze pages (a form of web page that solely prompts you to give your name and email address) are false, as people provide this information just to gain entrance to sites or to see what comes next. The people who are in this email list will not have any interest in whatever you have to sell. So sending them emails about your company or product proves to be worthless.

At the most, and if you are lucky, you may only find about 1% of them clicking to your site through the link you send in the emails. However, I believe that it is better to have a quality list of people where you are sure that anywhere between 20-80% of them will click to your site when you send them an email.

Factors affecting list quality

When you speak of list quality, you have to realize that this is a trait in email lists that is determined by various factors. This is why to maintain your list quality; you will have to follow an effective and proven strategy when you sell products that lead to subscribers subscribing to your list.

So if you have a product to sell, it is often more effective to send prospective clients two emails that have links which lead to high quality information, or perhaps some audio or some software before you actually send them an email that leads to the page that will be selling your products.

This is because the clients on your list who will be most responsive to your offers will be prepared to wait to see what comes next, and they will hopefully appreciate some quality, free information or audio as a ‘thank you’ for signing up to your email list.

Of course, most autoresponder systems now allow you monitor which emails are opened and which links within that email are clicked, so you can easily and effectively monitor your list to see how responsive it is.

How to use testimonials as an online marketing tool

October 1st, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business, Traffic Generation | No Comments »

In my last post I discussed the use of referrals as an effective marketing strategy. Today I will talk about another under-rated strategy, testimonials.

Testimonials are generally taken lightly, as just the feedback provided by customers about your product or services and is often not used to its full potential. Today I will discuss why you should use these at every opportunity to increase your customer conversion rates.

Did you know that one of the key factors that will ensure the success of a sales letter is having testimonials. This is because these testimonials add further credibility and efficiency to the product or service that you’re offering.

This is because testimonials form part of what is known as ‘social proof’. As human beings, we love social proof and either following other people in what they do or having someone reccommend something to us.

Place testimonials on your site

It can be extremely worthwhile to place your customer testimonials on your website, so that all potential clients can see for themselves what others think of your products or services.

I always try to use as much information as possible about the person giving me the testimonial, so their full name and town/city, plus their full testimonial – rather than using a condensed version of it.

The more specific a testimonial, the better. One that goes into detail about why your product/service is so valuable and exactly what you did for them will really stand out to your prospects, and they will be able to start visualizing themselves using your company’s services.

Don’t be afraid to ask for testimonials

This is something that few businesses actually do, and that is to ask for a testimonial. And it is so easy to execute too.

All you have to do is once a client has bought your product or used your service, you simply send them out a ‘thank you’ card/letter thanking them for using your company’s services, and you then ask them to tell you about their experience with your company.

You could also mention that this may be used on your website or in your shop/office and most people will like that too, as it gives them some kind of recognition as a customer.

So you can see how easy it is to get testimonials from clients that will serve as social proof to prospects as to why they should use your company. So, what are you waiting for, get writing to those clients who have used your services this past month!

Marketing strategies with the help of referrals

September 23rd, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business, Traffic Generation | No Comments »

As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, I am going to reveal today some strategies about how it is possible for you to use the traditional offline marketing technique of referrals.

Referrals, particularly in the current economic climate where competition is fierce and businesses are falling by the wayside every week, are a crucial part of staying one step ahead of your competition.

The main benefits of referrals are that first of all, they are a very cheap (in many cases free) means of acquiring new clients to add to your business, but perhaps more importantly, there is the credibility factor to consider.

If the referral is coming from a business owner to another business owner, this can be hugely significant. Even if the referral is coming from a friend of the business owner, it still carries a lot of credibility and can help your cause no end.

So now you may be wondering how you can actually get referrals for your business. Referrals are mostly available from three sources; existing clients, your networking, associates and (as I’ve already mentioned) people that you know on a social basis like your family and friends.

As far as family and friends are concerned, you simply need to talk about the business that you have (if they are not already aware of it) and ask them if they know of any other businesses which may be interested in your services.

If they do, would they be able to mention your services to this business? You can also offer an ethical incentive for friends and family, such as a £50 gift for each converted referral.

You will often find that amongst all your family and friends, that most will know a business owner – and of course that business owner will then in turn know several more business owners – and so it goes on.

Provide optimum customer service

However in case of existing customers, you should use a slightly different approach. You have to aim at providing optimal service (as you want to any way) and if they’re happy (which they should be) they may refer your product or services to their acquaintances.

Or, you could always ask them. Based upon their experiences, you could say to a ‘happy customer’ “Well Mr. Business Owner, I would be more than happy to give the same quality service to other businesses in the area, could you please recommend any that you know/deal with?”

A referral from a fellow business owner, particularly one who is singing your praises, is hugely valuable in terms of your credibility.

Similarly, if you visit social networking sites (Linked In and Facebook to name a couple) on a regular basis, keep a lookout for business professionals and people who will benefit from your product and services. Tell them about your business and what you can offer, and they will not hesitate from referring you to others and even to use your services themselves.

Incentives to mention your services

A great strategy that you can use to get referrals is to offer some type of an incentive. These incentives may range from a referral fee for successful conversions to a small free gift or service – depending on the circumstances and the type of referral.

In terms of gifts, you often don’t need to send anything expensive, even a gift card or free sample of your products is more than enough. Just the thought that you remember them will make it obligatory for them to refer your product or services to someone they know.

So remember to strive to always offer high levels of customer service as this leads to happy customers which can eventually lead to a goldmine of referrals. It is such a powerful strategy with proven success that I encourage you to go out there today with the aim of getting referrals for your business.

Offline marketing strategies for online businesses

September 16th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business, Viral Marketing | No Comments »

Though online marketing is the more popular form of marketing today, I do agree that you have to implement some offline marketing techniques to effectively market your bricks and mortar business.
Including your website and email address on business cards and any print marketing material you have is a great, and effective offline marketing technique. This may seem an obvious marketing technique to you, but this is something not every business person does. Failing to do this could deprive you of a considerable number of customers for your business.

Till receipts are an untapped marketing tool

You can also include your websites address, or an offer of some description, so for example 15% of your next order, on till receipts that you give to customers. This can increase the number of visits they’ll make to your business, and could also drive customer loyalty.

Your website is your friend, so use him effectively

I know I’ve banged on about this several times, but I make no apology for repeating myself ;)
Your website is truly a valuable asset to have, however I see too many businesses that simply have a website for the sake of having one.

A clear layout and a “call to action” on every page (this could be to call a phone number or sign up to a newsletter) are essential – and that’s just for starters. Flash, sound effects, creative graphics and the like may look nice and pretty, but it does not necessarily gain you customers, in fact in many cases it has the opposite effect.

Audio or video that is targeted to your customer, contains valuable information and again has a call to action at the end of it on the other hand is something that can work very well indeed, and should be considered.

Ultimately, the internet is just another means of advertising your business, albeit perhaps the fastest growing and most popular medium for advertising currently. But do not overlook the cornerstones of traditional offline marketing such as referrals and joint ventures, and I will discuss these at a future date, as they can work very well indeed if done correctly.

Online marketing techniques to build your online presence

September 9th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business | No Comments »

After learning the importance of an updated website for online marketing, and how not to lose customers, I now have to mention a few additional strategies that you should follow for your successful online marketing.

Social networking is now becoming an essential part of online marketing that involves making use of what are called “web 2.0” communities, that are available today to market your website.

The most popular of these web 2.0 communities, which are used by more people on a regular basis today are Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, but you can also include sites like Digg and Propeller, and please do not underestimate the power of media sites like YouTube.

In fact that last point is so important, I am going to mention it again. Youtube is not only a great site because you can upload videos to it, but it gets as many if not more visitors each day than Google, so it is well worth considering having a presence on this site.

The advantage of joining these networks, and communicating with the communities and members found here will help you establish a strong foothold for your business. You never know when you will find new prospects and customers for your business in these sites. It is however, all about being low key – and not pushy or constantly self-promoting.

Article marketing is still a tried and tested strategy

Article marketing also helps with in building your online presence. Article marketing means writing and distributing articles to different online magazines and directories, while adding a valuable resource box to your articles, which is your chance to obtain valuable links back to your website for the keywords that you want to rank highly for.

This resource box should have a small bio or description about you and your business, and should link back to your website, so that if a visitor clicks on it, they arrive at your site.

As I’ve just mentioned, these links do prove to be very effective in getting your website noticed by search engines, and Google in particular sees links as key to ranking your site more highly than a competitor.

If you can add as much interesting and unique information in your articles as possible, you will be noticed as an expert in your field. Moreover, if you also have valuable information on your website, you reinforce the fact that you’re an expert in your field, plus the search engines will visit your site more often as and when it is updated.

« Older Entries